


Personified

by IreneClaire



Series: Various Notions Collection [32]
Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Annoyed Danny Williams, Gen, Hurt Steve McGarrett, Hurt/Comfort, One Shot Collection, Word of the Day self challenge
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-15
Updated: 2018-07-15
Packaged: 2019-06-11 02:32:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,786
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15305478
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IreneClaire/pseuds/IreneClaire
Summary: Steve decides to do some work in the restaurant alone which turns out to be NOT so good of an idea." ..... As Danny's voice came closer again. Much closer. Steve kept his eyes firmly shut. He swallowed hard, momentarily distracted by that rising feeling of nausea. He truly felt sick. Maybe he should feign brain damage for a little while longer to save himself the trouble of Danny's pending wrath? ........."





	Personified

**Author's Note:**

> I do not own Hawaii Five-0 or any characters. No copyright infringement intended.
> 
> Notes: Part of the Word of the Day Bromance over on Fan Fiction; part of the Various Notions collection here on A03.

 

**H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O**

 

 _**Word of the Day: Personified** _ _. represent (a quality or concept) by a figure in human form. An attribute a personal nature or human characteristics to (something nonhuman). Represent or embody._

 

It was his first time waking with a clear head. Really _waking_ where he opened his eyes on his own accord and actually knew where he was - _when_ he was. He felt a familiar flicker of disappointment about the first, but content with the latter even if he couldn't yet remember the why or how parts of it.

Waking up in a hospital was always going to be a tremendous disappointment. Remembering _when_ he was without automatically spouting his name, rank and serial number, was satisfaction personified even if he wasn't quite sure why. There were other wins making themselves known now, too, despite being alone. Albeit it wasn't that long ago - maybe just an hour or two - he remembered the last time he woke. Not actually a win per se, but he remembered that it hadn't been one of his grandest moments. The fact that he was alone right then shouldn't have surprised him either and yet it did. Or maybe that was just another flavor of disappointment because his gaff had been too much for his emotionally charged partner to handle. Who could ever have guessed that his brain's mental obstinacy to make his lips recite his name, rank and serial number as ingrained safety mechanisms could have upset his partner so much? Maybe something else had happened and he couldn't remember _that_?

Steve's brief sense of success began to leave him. He began to feel uneasy. Something else had happened ... Danny had gotten upset with him ... he'd walked out of the room ... and now Steve began to completely doubt his knowledge of the _when_.

The bedside remote was just under his hand. Using his thumb and minimizing the movement of his entire upper body, Steve raised the head of the hospital bed to get a better look from his room into the brightly lit corridor. He promptly groaned and squeezed his eyes shut. The change in position caused him a ripple of pain and it took him a few minutes to conquer it enough so he could focus away from himself. Breathing through his nose and out through his mouth, the nausea was the last to go. When it did though and he could breathe easier, Steve could clearly hear the hum of voices and activity, yet nothing of that seemed to be near his room. Chastising himself for feeling so letdown when Danny was probably and very justifiably upset, Steve rested his head back and closed his eyes. There'd be nothing he could do about it until the man came back and they could both just talk it all out. Whatever had happened, they'd talk it through and figure it out. They always did and Steve smiled to himself at that thought.

He'd have some work cut out for him in the talking department. Danny would actually wind up talking _at_ him and he'd never get a word in edgewise. Steve wouldn't be up to holding a coherent conversation either because in all reality, he didn't have a leg to stand on to defend himself. Both figuratively and literally. Figuratively since he wasn't sure what he'd done, though he had an uneasy feeling that it had to do with him not waiting for his partner. Steve would deserve every scowl and every angry, blame-worthy word and Steve's small smile dried up as he quietly realized that he couldn't remember what he'd supposed to wait for Danny to help him with. And due to that, Steve was now left to tally up all his aches and pains.

He at least knew what a doctor had explained during a rare minute of Steve's lucidity and that was where his literal problems came in.

Twisted left leg. Sprained back. Whiplash. Concussion. All superficial enough but when packaged into such a nice tidy bow of woe, debilitating enough too.

The tightness in his upper back and neck would affect the smallest move from an accidental sneeze or cough to sitting down or standing up. The soft tissue damage in his leg would happily remind him that walking would be an equally painful trial and tribulation. But the throbbing ache at the base of his skull was worse than his prior need to repeat his military designations. It held hands and skipped down a sneaky and sickly little path with the strained muscles in his neck and Steve groaned softly to himself.

Other than physical therapy, he could take regular exercise off his schedule for at least a week. Maybe more. Probably more.

Keeping his eyes closed, Steve rubbed his queasy stomach though the blankets. He felt awful. He hoped he might be due for some kind of pain medication; the mere though of needing to dry heave into a small basin brought tears to his eyes because he could imagine the agony he'd cause himself. He'd be at least smart to admit defeat and S tay ahead of his tidy little bow of misery. But just as he considered pressing the nurse's call station button to ask, his ears picked up a familiar voice.

"Isn't it time you checked in on him?" Danny was asking. His voice waxed and waned where Steve caught just a few of the next words. Danny must have been stalking some poor member of the medical staff in the corridor. Without too much imagination, Steve could envision the cocky strut his partner often adopted when annoyed - the gestures - the tilt of his head. The sarcasm that would be leeching off him in waves. That attitude both begged a fight but in the same breath was a challenge which most people wisely backed down from.

"... head injury ... time ... where's ... the doctor ...?" A pause. Another voice and then Danny speaking again. "Fine. I'll help ... wait ... together ..."

As Danny's voice came closer again. Much closer. Steve kept his eyes firmly shut. He swallowed hard, momentarily distracted by that rising feeling of nausea. He truly felt sick. Maybe he should feign brain damage for a little while longer to save himself the trouble of Danny's pending wrath?

Steve kept his eyes closed when he sensed their arrival. The nurse and his partner, side by side. While the nurse kept to his right, Steve sensed Danny doing two things. One, the rustle of a bag being dropped to a side chair and two, Danny rounding the foot of his bed to stand on his left.

"Steven J. McGarrett. Lieutenant-Commander," Steve mumbled blandly. Convincingly enough he supposed when he felt both people stop dead in their tracks. He tried to covertly squint his eyes open while also halting his recitation when he heard his partner curse.

" _Shit_. Damn it! Wait. I'll do it. Don't touch him!" Steve heard Danny say to the nurse before Danny addressed him directly, but what he did at the same time was baffling.

"Steve? Steve ... I need you to wake up for me." As he spoke, Danny rather firmly wrapped his hands around Steve's forearms, gently but effectively ready to pin both to the bed. Steve's eyes sprung open at that oddity, instantly finding his partner's face. He also forgot to continue the ruse.

"What the hell? Danny?" Steve asked, instantly tightening his muscles in defense, but wincing through the throbbing pain in his head at the same time. "Danny? What are you doing?" Squinting in pain, he looked from his partner to the nurse and then back again. The nurse was a few decent feet away from his bedside. Danny much closer even if his upper body might be slightly canted to the side, away from Steve and ... _why_?

Steve frowned because he knew what Danny's just out of reach positioning indicated. The colorful bruise on Danny's chin added further validation. Other than feeling inclined to repeat his name, rank and serial number, he'd evidently committed at least one other transgression. Potentially a serious one if the reddish swelling on the side of Danny's jaw line might be part of it and Steve knew, even as he was asking, that it was true.

"Danno? Did I hit you?" Steve relaxed under his partner's hands, knowing what he'd done. Somewhere along the line, he'd forgotten where he was and who he was with and his partner had taken the brunt of it. Right then, Danny was only trying to help the nurse avoid the same accidental lashing out that Steve must have reflexively done at one time or another.

"Danno. You're back this time ... for real? Danno," his partner repeated a couple of times, clearly relieved as he released the careful hold. Nonetheless, Danny stayed close though, still gauging Steve's mood.

_Just in case._

"Sorry," Steve said to both people. "Danny? You all right?" He scrubbed shakily at his own face not remembering what he must have done. Yet the evidence on Danny's chin was certainly clue enough. "I'm sorry. Are you okay?"

Completely mollified by Steve's full recognition and apology, Danny let out all the air he'd captured in his lungs in a loud whoosh. He smiled in relief, patting Steve's arm now and signaling the nurse forward.

"Me? I'm fine, big guy," Danny reassured him. "I'm not the guy who fell off a ladder and then saw fit to clock his partner a good one ... then saw fit to have a eight hour lapse in the here and now."

"Ladder?" Steve asked as the nurse stepped forward to check his eyes and his general well being. He was gaining his memory back now with lightning speed.

_The restaurant. After hours renovations. The ceiling fan and fancy lighting ... Danny's insistence on waiting for an electrician._

"Oh. Yeah ... the lights."

"Yeah, the _lights_!" Danny agreed. "Why could you _not_ wait the five minutes it would have taken me to show up and to call that guy? We'd agreed to work on that together ... after calling the electrician in for consult! You nearly killed yourself ... not to mention ... you broke three of the lights when you fell!"

"I fell?" Steve asked, frowning in thought. "Wait ... eight _hours_?"

"Eight very long and very stressful hours," Danny said. "You could have killed yourself ... you are _not_ an electrician. The ladder ... geez, we had a plan! You should have waited Steve!"

He considered about what Danny said for a minute before coming up with a musty memory of their restaurant and the light fixtures he thought he'd try to install ... without help ... on a too tall ladder ... and not having enough hands ...

_... the way one of the brushed metal surface of the lights had been too slick and had started to slip through his fingers. The metal had provided him with no traction and he'd grappled with the thing, nearly dropping it, but severely rattling the ladder. It had rocked on its legs and he'd lost his balance ..._

' _Yeah, he sure had fallen_ ', Steve thought to himself ruefully. He shifted in the bed and hissed through his teeth. Everything hurt. Danny was right; he should have waited.

"Whoa, wait. Hold up! Were you _kidding_ just now?" Danny suddenly asked, interrupting Steve's short reverie. His hand waved once through the air, over Steve's body, practically from head to toe. "You know ... that military name and rank bullshit ...Steve?"

"What?" Steve asked, confused by the change in direction.

"What, _what_? You were _kidding_ just now?" Danny narrowed his eyes suspiciously and then tapped near the bruise which had to be painfully sore. Not questioningly - accusingly - and Steve furrowed his brow.

"Steven? Yes?"

"Oh. Well, yeah ... but I just ... I didn't want to talk about it yet, Danno," Steve admitted very carefully. "And honestly, I didn't remember half of it until you explained it more."

He couldn't even shrug for the ache in his back and neck. His eyes were beginning to tear from the ache in his head. But the repentant look on his face, combined with what had to be very real lines of stress as his pain intensified, were all enough to preempt Danny's emotional outburst. Or, at least table it for another time as that severe look slowly became one of concern.

"Steve? What's up?" Danny asked, still suspicious, but perhaps not as annoyed and Steve blinked as a rather devious thought flittered enticingly through his head.

"Danno? Meds ... ?" Steve asked quietly, intentionally looking from the nurse to his partner. He waited a hairsbreadth as Danny rechanneled his outward show of worry from anger to _henning_ which manifested itself as an authoritative litany of demands for the poor nurse.

"Meds? Yeah, isn't it time for that now?" Danny asked the nurse. "He's in pain." He glanced down to Steve and for effect, Steve grimaced while rubbing his stomach through the blankets again. He blinked sadly before swallowing hard, adding another symptom to the mix.

"You're ... nauseous? Sick?" Danny asked him and Steve provided a tired thumbs up instead of even trying to nod. He squinted through his lashes, appealing his partner's patience and silently begging for help.

"I'll check, Detective. I believe he is due," the nurse said before asking Steve similar questions which Steve willingly provided weak, distracted replies.

_Yes, his head hurt; though now, he knew the when, where of his predicament._

As for the _why_ of it, he glanced beseechingly towards Danny who's expression had completely changed now. Steve almost felt bad ... _almost_ ... but not quite. Besides, there was no harm in Steve manipulating his world just enough to stay ahead of his partner's quicker tongue. After, Steve would take that tongue-lashing in good humor and know he'd deserved it all along. A twisted leg, sprained back, whiplash and a concussion were all more than enough for Steve to have learned his lesson. Next time, he'd wait. Maybe even call that certified electrician as Danny had first wanted to do rather than Steve's abysmal attempt at saving a few bucks.

"Commander? Are you feeling nauseous?" The nurse was inquiring again and Steve managed to find his tongue to truthfully add in a few heartfelt apologies for being such a difficult patient. It was all true enough, too. The aches, the pains ... the nausea prompted by all of it.

"Steve?" Danny was asking now. Intervening and patting his arm, trying to get his attention. "The nurse'll call it all down to the pharmacy. Just rest up, okay?"

"Yeah, sure, Danno," Steve replied. "Thanks." He scowled though, annoyed with himself for the significant bruise blossoming along Danny's jawline. He'd screwed up in more ways than that one. He almost confessed his real need to divert their talk. But it didn't matter. Steve was sure that Danny was already reading through his semi-harmless little ploy again and that was proven when the nurse left the room to inquire about his meds with the doctor before contacting the hospital's pharmacy.

Danny still had his hand on Steve's arm, his grip firm but gentle. Steve squinted up into his partner's face.

"So?" Steve asked. He offered Danny a semi-sly grin rather than continuing and Danny chuffed a knowing sound in his throat.

"You, my friend, are _not_ getting out of it this easy," Danny snarked at him. "Me and you? When you're feeling better, we _will_ be talking about your hard-headed, obnoxious, over-the-top ..."

"Danny," Steve interrupted the quiet tirade and Danny stopped talking, his lips set in a firm line. "Please. Later?"

"Okay, okay," Danny said as he yielded ground. "Later ... just ... _rest_. When I found you there ... I thought you'd killed yourself for good this time."

Steve frowned when Danny swallowed and looked away, getting his emotions arrested once more. A moment later, Danny was smiling back down at him. His blue eyes were sparkling half in annoyance and half in amusement; an ability which only Danny seemed to possess and Steve reached up to pat the back of his hand in thanks. But Steve looked meaningfully at the bruise he'd put on his friend's chin and sighed loudly.

"About that? " Steve whispered as he began to close his eyes. "Sorry, Danno." He meant his apology for more than that bruise. But Steve knew Danny would easily figure that out as well.

"M'fine," Danny said softly. "I have just two words for you though ... think on them as you sleep ..."

"What's that?" Steve asked as he squinted one final time up into Danny's face, an eyebrow raised in askance when Danny began to grin.

"Certified. Electrician."

Trying not to laugh for fear of setting off his head more than it already was throbbing, Steve smiled as he closed his eyes.

_**~ End. ~** _


End file.
